ISU nursing professor receives award to study prediabetes in Idaho’s Latino population

Idaho State University professor and director of nursing research Mary Nies is the recipient of a $50,000 funding award to study diabetes prevention in Idaho’s rural Latino communities.

The one-year award from non-profit organization the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute was awarded through PCORI’s Pipeline to Proposal Awards.

Nies plans to use the funds to establish a steering committee made up of Idaho members of Ventanilla de Salud, a national program designed to improve the health of Mexicans living in the United States, Latino pre-diabetics, their families, caregivers and healthcare providers.

“The goal is to establish partnerships with all involved in the care of prediabetic Latinos to develop research questions to improve the ability of prediabetic Latinos to make informed choices about their pre-diabetic state,” said Nies.

Nies notes prediabetes is becoming rampant in the United States, particularly in the Latino community.

In July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 84 million Americans have prediabetes, a condition if left untreated can lead to type 2 diabetes within five years.

Funding will run through September 30, 2018.